| As chair of the town council subcommittee on park facilities, |
| I'd like to bring you up to date on some of the changes that have been made recently to the Croft Valley Park. |
| So if you could just take a look at the map I handed out, |
| let's begin with a general overview. |
| So the basic arrangement of the park hasn't changed - |
| it still has two gates, north and south, and a lake in the middle. |
| The café continues to serve an assortment of drinks and snacks |
| and is still in the same place, |
| looking out over the lake and next to the old museum. |
| We're hoping to change the location of the toilets, |
| and bring them nearer to the centre of the park |
| as they're a bit out of the way at present, near the adventure playground, in the corner of your map. |
| The formal gardens have been replanted and should be at their best in a month or two. |
| They used to be behind the old museum, |
| but we've now used the space near the south gate - |
| between the park boundary and the path that goes past the lake towards the old museum. |
| We have a new outdoor gym for adults and children, |
| which is already proving very popular. |
| It's by the glass houses, just to the right of the path from the south gate. |
| You have to look for it as it's a bit hidden in the trees. |
| One very successful introduction has been our skateboard ramp. |
| It's in constant use during the evenings and holidays. |
| It's near the old museum, |
| at the end of a little path that leads off from the main path between the lake and the museum. |
| We've also introduced a new area for wild flowers, to attract bees and butterflies. |
| It's on a bend in the path that goes round the east side of the lake, |
| just south of the adventure playground. |
| Now let me tell you a bit more about some of the changes to Croft Valley Park. |
| One of our most exciting developments has been the adventure playground. |
| We were aware that we had nowhere for children to let off steam, |
| and decided to use our available funds |
| to set up a completely new facility in a large space to the north of the park. |
| It's open year-round, though it closes early in the winter months, |
| and entrance is completely free. |
| Children can choose whatever activities they want to do, irrespective of their age, |
| but we do ask adults not to leave them on their own there. |
| There are plenty of seats where parents can relax and keep an eye on their children at the same time. |
| Lastly, the glass houses. |
| A huge amount of work has been done on them |
| to repair the damage following the disastrous fire that recently destroyed their western side. |
| Over £80,000 was spent on replacing the glass walls and the metal supports, |
| as well as the plants that had been destroyed, |
| although unfortunately the collection of tropical palm trees has proved too expensive to replace up to now. |
| At present the glass houses are open from 10 am to 3 pm Mondays to Thursdays, |
| and it's hoped to extend this to the weekend soon. |
| We're grateful to all those who helped us by contributing their time and money to this achievement. |